When I first read through the plans for Week One of Digital Storytelling, what puzzled me most was the use of a theme. How could this course use a theme, and why is the theme “What’s (y)our story?” mean? After thinking about it more, I think that this semesters is an excellent way to relate to people outside of Digital Storytelling 106, outside of the UMW community, and to make what interests us interesting to other people.
One reason why I think this theme is so well thought out is that I think it the theme greatly applies to the real world. Unlike some of my other courses, I feel as though the skills that I am learning in this course will actually help me in the real world. Although I’m sure a course like Math Modeling or Intro to Philosophy will end up helping me after my time at UMW in some way or another, applying Digital Storytelling to things that I will do in the workforce seems a whole lot easier. Due to the growing importance of technology in the workforce, becoming familiar with different social platforms and learning how to express yourself digitally is something that everyone will need to know in order to be successful in the future no matter what career path they are in.
Now how does the theme relate to being a course being applicable to the real world? Well, when reading the prompt for the “What’s (y)out story?” blog post something that stood out to me the most was this:
“Can we find ways to talk about college and academic topics that are compelling, engaging and interesting to people outside the world of academia?”
This quote made me think about something that I have never thought about before. If some of my teachers and professors in the past used digital media to change the way they taught subjects that aren’t particularly compelling to certain students, do you think that there would be a lot more interest to learn about new things?
To answer my own question, I think that if I had been able to think about subjects that aren’t as interesting to me through the lens of sound, images, video, and other digital platforms, I think I would not only be a better student but I would be smarter. Think of all the time students have wasted not paying attention to a lesson because it wasn’t engaging enough to capture their attention. Now imagine the capabilities of a student who had been constantly engaged in lessons throughout a multitude of subjects because these lessons were taught using digital storytelling.
In my opinion, there is no way that we can ignore the growing influence of technology in the world, so why not use it to our advantage, and make education more interesting to everyone?
Interesting thoughts on digital media in education. I’ve seen classes where one of the students’ tasks is to find good videos that explain course concepts and share them with the class – curating digital media rather than creating it. I suspect that activity has more learning value than a lecture or reading about the concept, because it engages the student in a different way.